Yunnan Travel Guide – Yunnan Minority Groups

Yunnan is regarded as a microcosm of the multinational China. It has 25 minorities, nearly 1/2 of the complete u. S .’s general range of 56. Each minority, distributing in the specific nook of Yunnan Province, has its personal customs, records, and lifestyle for lots of years, celebrating their very own festivals which are surely appealing and charming. With such diversity, Yunnan attracts the most people who are interested in ethnic culture and customs.

Among the existing 25 minority groups, the Yi, Bai, Dai, Naxi, Zang (Tibetan) and many others. Are the general public and maximum well-known. They have structured cultures, customs, languages, and histories. Most of them additionally have their own religious beliefs, together with Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, and Muslim. In the past heaps of year, they had co-existed and advanced in peace and concord. At gift, many live in over-lapping regions and transracial marriage happens regularly.

Yi People is one of the historic ones in Yunnan. They are dispensed over Chuxiong, Honghe, Ailaoshang, and regions of Xiaoliangshang in Yunnan. Their language is a branch of the own family of Tibetan and Myanmar languages. Yi lives in a type of residence of wooden timbers battlement. The hearth of the fireplace (a hole dug on the floor) is by no means dispose of a yr around in their houses. It is the dwelling center of the family so known as “Fireplace Culture”. Yi humans are so forthright, exact at consuming, making a song and having a felt on the lower back. The circle of relatives system is the structure of a husband and one spouse forming a small circle of relatives. They favor to the black shade, so inside the history the Yi nobleman changed into always in black, the white represented the “Nazi” that means the serfs. The man has a black headscarf around the head and a fixed of black garments. But the girl is in colorful shining clothes. Yi believes in the Master of Soil and multi-Gods faith. Their primary vacation is the “Festival of Torch”(Around in March) which provides amazing hobbies on Yunnan tours for plenty people.

Bai People especially stay in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture and others are scattered in Kunming, Yuanjiang, Lijiang, and Lansing. Bai People preserve the white color in excessive esteem and call themselves “Nazi”, “Bane” or “Baihuo”, this means that white human beings.

Since ancient instances, the Bai human beings have mounted a close dating with the Han and the Yi in the indoors or the neighboring regions. After the Nanzhao Kingdom, mainly during the Dali Kingdom, all the Bais in unique regions have become a nationality with similar languages, cultures and monetary systems. Now they’ve their very own spoken language that belongs to the Tibeto-Burman Stock of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family. Many Bai humans are true at the Han language. They use the Han characters as their writing machine. Besides Buddhism and Taoism, the worship of Patron God is most popular. The Patron God Temple may be observed in nearly each village. Patron God is the Guardian of a village or a region.

The Bai human beings’ houses are particular. The typical style is “sanfangyizhaobi” and “sihewutianjing.” “Sanfangyizhaobi” refers to 3 homes on three aspects and an ornamental display screen wall to reflect daylight to the house. ” Sihewutianjing” is a house with a primary courtyard and excursion small ones at the four corners of the most important one.The Bai human beings’ houses are commonly embellished with wooden carvings, stone carvings, and marble, which upload luster to the conventional traits of the houses.

The Bai humans regard white as an honorable coloration and prefer to put on white clothes. Men regularly put on white coats with black vests. Women want to put on white or blue jackets with black or blue vests. Unmarried girls like to have a pigtail, or wear stunning headdresses that display the four famous scenes in Dali, specifically the flora in Shangguan, the wind in Xiaguan, the snow at the top of the Cangshan Mountain and the Moon pondered inside the Er Hai Lake. The married ladies coil their hair and wrap it with black or embroidered material.

The important festivals of the Bai People are the Raosanlin, the Torch Festival, the Patron God Festival and the Shibaoshan Mountain Song Festival. The most critical of all is the Third Month Fair in Dali which falls on March fifteenth at the lunar calendar and lasts 7 days.

Naxi People particularly stay in Lijiang Naxi Autonomous County, Tingling County, Yongsheng County and Weixi, Zhongdian and Deqin counties in Diqing. “Naxi” method those who worship black or a state.

The Naxi people have an exceptional culture, of which the maximum essential one is the Dongba language which includes the best surviving hieroglyphic characters in the global, The Naxi human beings have their very own language, which belongs to the Tibet-Burmese Branch of the Sino-Tibetan Language Family (Yi Branch).

The Naxi humans agree with in Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, and Lamaism. The famous Lijiang Murals nicely screen their attitudes of large-mindedness and their assimilation of numerous cultures.

The costumes of the Naxi men are not very distinctive from those of the Han human beings. The Naxi women normally wear coats with free sleeves and buttons on the right, vests, long trousers and pleated aprons. They also put on a goat-felt cape in the shoulders with the pattern of seven embroidered circles symbolizing diligence and hard operating.

The Mosuo humans, a branch of the Naxi nationality, nevertheless keep the unique Axia marital custom, and the trace of a matrilineal system can nevertheless be visible in this organization. Therefore they’re called the “Living Fossil” for a examine of the development of human family and marriage.

The major gala’s of the Naxi people are the Bangbanghui Festival on January fifteenth at the lunar calendar, the Sanduo Festival on February 8th and the live Stock Exchange Fair in March and June.

Recommended Yunnan Minority Festival Tour in March

Day 01 Kunming
Arrive in Kunming.

Day 02 Kunming / Stone Forest
A complete day excursion to the Stone Forest, one of the natural wonders of the place, and a regular Karstic Landscape. On the way, go to to a standard Yi minority village and meet the local community. Tonight you may witness the first-rate Torch Festival of Yi People.

Day 03 Stone Forest / Looping
Drive to Luoping in the morning. Visit the Nine-dragon Waterfall, the grandest waterfall in Yunnan and due to exclusive stages, the Waterfalls form a ten-layered waterfall.

Day 04 Luoping
Drive to Duoyihe sightseeing region. Enjoy natural surroundings and Buyi minority village. Drive again to Luoping in past due afternoon.

Day 06 Puzhehei / Mile
Drive to Mile. Upon arrival, visit a crimson wine bodega and a grand Amitaba, the symbol of Mile.

Day 07 Mile / Kunming Tour
Drive back to Kunming within the morning. Upon arrival, enjoy a sightseeing excursion to Western Hill with a Dragon Gate carved into the sheer cliff, and awesome perspectives over Kunming and Dianchi Lake.